Amanda Jayatissa

In nineteenth century Sri Lanka, daughter of the village Capuwa (demon priest), Amara, tries to solve the mysterious attacks that have been happening around her village. Most of the villagers around the island have been influenced by the new religious practices brought in by the British Colonizers, but that doesn’t stop them from still calling on Amara’s dad whenever supernatural occurrences happen. But now, someone (or something), is viciously attacking the men and instead of asking for Amara’s father’s help, the villagers begin accusing him for it.

Amma is used to keeping to herself - the relentless bullying and accusations of witchcraft are never ending. She sets out to try and clear her father’s name herself, but begins being haunted by dreams that predict dark forces, that also leave her waking up in random places throughout the island as she sleepwalks. She can’t shake the feeling that all of this is connected to the night weeks ago - when she was recovering from a strange illness and woke up scared and confused, to her mother frantically saying, “No one can find out what happened”.

I don’t read horror that often, but after reading the marketing promos for it and seeing it was both based on Sri Lankan folklore and had “female rage finally being unleashed” as a highlight point, I was sold. And this didn’t disappoint.

The storyline of watching Amara from an innocent young girl turned to a rage filled woman was impressive and believable. It made the ending of the story a bit complicated because you both saw where she was coming from and kind of had to take a step back and go, “Whoa”. I haven’t read anything from Amanda Jayatissa before, but I will be adding her other two to my ever growing TBR list.

As I said before, horror isn’t my forte, but I think those who are looking for a unique and page turning, historical Sri Lanka horror, will greatly appreciate this one. There are some gory moments, but nothing that I thought was super crazy or intense, especially for a horror novel.

*Thank you Berkley and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review… (meer)

My Sweet Girl is about a young girl who is adopted from an orphanage in Sri Lanka, leaving her friends behind, when she moves with her new parents to America. Now, Paloma is a young woman, and goes to her apartment to find her roommate, Arun, dead. However, when she awakens from a drunken night, the body is gone. She starts to think she is going crazy. She returns to her parents' home, but she is haunted by a monster that the girls in the orphanage believed was present.
There is a big twist in the story.
Reasons for my rating-Paloma came across as a whiny and unstable drunk. Her voice was irritating to me. Plus, the use of the F word was so prevalent, I thought that could have been cut by 50% at least! I also had a good inkling of the twist early on.… (meer)